Valve have three big surprises in store

Everybody knows that good things come in threes, and it seems that Valve adhere to that school of thought also - teasing that they've got three "big surprises" tucked into their collective sleeves.

Obviously, we don't know what they are yet (that's the concept of a "surprise" for you), but they're promised to drop within the next twelve months.

Surprise!

If you cast your minds back to June, you'll remember that Half-Life 2: Episode 3 speculation was all over the internets. Valve had planned a special press conference to reveal a "surprise" - but cancelled it at the last minute.

"I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn't going to stop any time soon. I'm just laughing because... people will be shocked again.

"We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least."

Anybody want to take a stab at what they think these surprises might be?

It's pretty fair to expect that they'll take gaming in a bit of a different direction, with Valve revealing in the same interview that they've been playing with biometrics. It started with gaze-tracking technology to see where game testers were looking while playing, but now it's expanded so the developers are keeping track of pulse rates and emotional reactions of their subjects gamers. Next time you're scared, Valve will know.